3eyedwagon

Just out of curiosity. Whats a set of 15" Pug alloys worth? In good shape with crappy tires.

Bamboo has a stellar strength-to-weight ratio! But I hear that the filler metal to weld it with is REALLY expensive!

Like I said, I was only looking for information, not to be sold something. I think I started off by not being specific enough in what I was looking for. So Ill admit, that was my own fault. But once I specified what I was after, still, the sales pitch! So Im sorry if I pissed anyone off, but I am a certified welder and have 2 years of a BA finished in engineering, so I do know just a little about things of "structural nature". I just dont know how much torsion and force is constantly being applied at the body mounts. It stands to reason that since Im dealing with body to drivetrain mounting, it would be a significant load! So I dont know whether or not 1/4 walled aluminum tubing will be strong enough for mild use in the snow and trails. I will go ahead and try it because I have a educated guess that with proper trussing and gusseting, it should handle the job just fine, be lighter, and be prettier (if thats a term that should be used to describe anything on a Sub!). I just didnt want to undertake the task if it was going to fail immediately and this was something that you guys knew and had experience with already! Thank you all for your input.

Nope, not expecting that, just some pertinnent info without trying to be sold everyones product. If I had wanted to buy someone elses design, I just wouldve made an order while I was at BYB/OZified, Scorpion, or Allied Armament to see how their kits were designed. Anyone can write a check. Thats not why I'm into CHEAP 4x4s.

Well man, I asked an honest legitimate question because I dont have much experience with Subarus. I stated that from the beginning. However, I do have fabrication experience. I didnt join this to be sold everyone elses products so when I was told repeatedly not to even try it, and instead "heres what my kits like, Id reccomend buying one like it!", I thought, what a frickin joke! I just want a little bit of info and so far, two people have responded with pertinnent information and not tryed to sell me anything! What would you expect? So to OZified and the person who posted about JIBs brat; thank you. And to everyone trying to sell me your crap; Sorry, I'm a broke college student, and I wouldnt buy something I could make myself, even if I did have the money.

So far, genius, the only one who has answered any thing relating to my question is OZified. I wanted to know if anyone has experienced any cracking with aluminum tubing. NOT that YOUR SYSTEM is the best! Also, unless you were to grind the mill scale off both the bolts and the aluminum, you wouldnt have any problems with "dissimalar metal corrosion". My question is not if a solid cast aluminum lift kit would weigh as much as a steel tubing kit, it is about cracking of aluminum tubing. We all know that 50 lbs of steel tubing and 50 lbs of cast aluminum blocks are going to weigh somewhere in the same neighborhood. SARCASM. IF there is no problem with stress cracking of aluminum tubing, then I believe I can make a FAR lighter kit than what is offered, also for a fraction of the price. However, I did want to investigate knowledgeable peoples experiences to see if they had had any problems with ALUMINUM TUBING. As I figured this would be a wise thing to do before beginning my project. Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your experience and opinion. Do you by any chance know the weight of a complete steel kit? I just have a feeling that the weight savings would be far greater (Naturally it would sacrifice a small amount of strength) than only 10-15 pounds. My reasoning behind this is that this is not going to be a vehicle that sees much off road action, mostly snow trips and light trail work. It will be a poser if you will, and so far, my experience with the EA81 is that it is very durable, but also greatly underpowered, even with exhaust and a 32/36. Even a toolbox is noticeable when merging! SO my mission is to keep the weight down to make the car tolerable for a 100 mile round trip commute in the winter.

The weight savings would be far more than ten pounds. Even by the time you trussed it to make up for aluminums structural inferiority to steel, it would still be far lighter. Aluminum weighs 1/3 of what steel does.

Dude, solid aluminum is just ignorant overkill for such a light vehicle. The whole point of aluminum is to keep it light weight.

Basically, I am wondering if anyone has any experience using 6061 or 6063 series aluminum rectangular tubing with a wall thickness of 1/4" or thicker to make their own lift kit. I realize that multiple groups make their own out of various materials and that "they are the best". However, I am curious if anyone has experienced any problems like torsion cracking, etc. when making their own lift kit from aluminum tubing. I am a welder and fully capable of the project, but I am new to Subarus and have no experience with how much force is applied at the body mounting areas. Many of my friends have made these kits, but none of them had aluminum welding technology, so this is new to us. Any help you could give me would be appreciated. Thank you.

Did you actually say that it wouldnt weigh less?

I kinda meant more like building your own from 6000 series aluminum rectangular tubing. It would behave quite a bit different than cast pieces. Anyone have any experience with that? Im only looking at doing a 4inch to have a functional commuter with some "pressence". Thanks.

Has anyone here ever run aluminum lift blocks, and if so, found any problems such as cracking etc.? After all, weight is the H4s natural enemy.